


Aftermath

by xxtempestaxx



Category: The Giver Series - Lois Lowry
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29887929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxtempestaxx/pseuds/xxtempestaxx
Summary: "Lily was annoyed with Jonas. Did he have to leave for Elsewhere all of a sudden like that?"The aftermath of Jonas' memories being released into the Community from Lily's point of view.
Kudos: 3





	Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> This was something I wrote for class a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed this book! I don't know how many people are out there reading The Giver fanfiction, but I thought I'd post it anyways. Note that I haven't read any of the sequels.

Lily was annoyed with Jonas. Did he have to leave for Elsewhere all of a sudden like that?

She had finally received her bicycle two days ago at The Ceremony of Nine, but she could only ride it using the training wheels. It was not like she needed the training wheels all the time, but she had not yet fully mastered riding a bike and tended to lose her balance when turning. Jonas had started to teach her how to ride using his bike a few weeks before The Ceremony, but he spared very little time to do so. He always seemed to be busy with his Receiver training. But, he had promised to spend more time teaching her after The Ceremony. With him having run away for Elsewhere, that was clearly no longer possible.

Father had promised to help her instead, but had had no time to do so yet because of all the fuss over Jonas’s disappearance. For some reason, all the adults seemed to be busy with the search for Jonas and its consequences. Not that Lily knew what these consequences were.

She had no idea why it was such a big deal that Jonas had run away to Elsewhere. Weren’t people always allowed to request being released to Elsewhere? Though she supposed it was important to inform someone that you wished to do so. She thought it was rather rude of him to leave so suddenly like that. Right before she became a Nine too! She had wanted to show him her bike. Jonas had taken Gabriel with him, but Gabe was going to be released anyways. Her parents had said it had something to do with him being a Receiver, but there was still another Receiver left. Couldn’t he handle whatever it is Receivers do until a new one was _selected_? She decided she would ask The Receiver when they went to visit him later today.

“I think Jonas is going to come back. I think he just wanted to see Gabe off himself, but because he was not allowed to, he ran away with him instead,” Lily informed her parents as she continued to eat her breakfast. “Maybe you’re right Lily-billy…” Father responded in a quiet voice. Father had started growing quieter and quieter since yesterday. In addition, both Mother and he looked exhausted.

“It must be! Because if he wanted to be released as well he could have just put in a request. After, breaking all those rules though he might be sent right back to Elsewhere after he returns, right Mother?” she asked, but continued without leaving room for an answer. “It will serve him right! Leaving all of a sudden like that without telling anyone and causing such a mess! It would be nice if he didn’t have to leave forever though…” Lily trailed off as something caught her eye.

“Lily?”

“Mother! Your watch! It changed! Look!” the young girl exclaimed pointing at her Mother’s wrist.

“What?” both Mother and Father turned their heads towards the watch, but it was the same as always as far as they could see.

“Look! It’s-it’s- I don’t know what to call it, but it changed! It’s not the size or the shape… Oh! It changed back…” Lily stated, still staring wide-eyed at the watch. Her parents looked at each other and shrugged.

“Speaking of watches though, Lily, hurry up and finish your breakfast. You’re going to be late,” Father told Lily deciding to ignore this _change_ Lily had seen.

* * *

“Father, why can’t Fiona see blue? She can see red and green and yellow like me, but she says she doesn’t see blue,” asked Lily. It had been a week since Jonas had disappeared. The adults were still looking for him though. Lily thought it was taking him an awfully long time to come back. Just how far was Elsewhere really! She had learnt since then that the reason why it was such a big deal that Jonas had run away was because now all his _memories_ were coming free. The Giver – The Receiver had told everyone he was now The Giver not The Receiver – had explained that these were the images and words and feelings that had been entering everybody. Lily now knew that the change she had seen in Mother’s watch was not really a change, but something called _colour_. Apparently, it had always been there, but nobody could see it.

“Fiona? Isn’t that that girl from Jonas’s group?” Father said seeming a little more attentive than usual.

Father seemed very tired lately. Mother did too. They often seemed to not be listening to Lily at all. She knew they did not always listen to everything she said, but they usually listened to enough of it to have a general idea of what she was talking about and be able to answer her questions. This was different. In fact, she sometimes saw the same far of look on their faces when they were sitting on their own without anyone talking to them.

The Giver had said it probably was because of the memories they were receiving.

“Yes. I volunteered at the House of the Old today, and met her while working. I think I prefer working at the Nurturing Center. Fiona and I talked for a little while and she was saying she could see red, yellow and green. She is the only person besides our family unit who I have met who can see three colours. Most people only see red and a few see either yellow or green. But, she couldn’t see blue either.” Lily thought it was a pity it was taking everyone so long to see blue. She liked blue best so far. She could not wait to see what new colours she would discover.

“I guess this confirms The Giver’s theory…” Father said thoughtfully. “The Giver thinks that people who spent more time with Jonas are receiving memories faster than others. Which is why we seem to have so many more memories than everyone else. It is the same with the colours. We can see more colours than anyone because we spent the most time with Jonas. Jonas used to spend a lot of time with Fiona which is why she can see more colours than the others, but not as many as us. If we talk to Asher he would most likely tell us he can see three colours as well or at least two…”

Lily thought back to those who she had met who she heard could see two colours. It made sense. Fritz from next door and his Mother could see red and green. His father could see red and yellow. Charlotte, a girl from Lily’s Group who sometimes came to their house to spend time with Lily could see red and yellow as well.

ATTENTION. THIS IS A REMINDER THAT NINES, TENS AND ELEVENS ARE TO REPORT TO THE GIVER TOMORROW AFTER SCHOOL, the speaker announced just then.

* * *

One day Lily came home to find her Father sitting on a chair and crying while staring at his hands with a fearful look. He did not even seem to notice Lily come home despite her loud entrance. “Father?” she called as she slowly approached her Father, but he showed no reaction to her. She wondered if he had gotten a painful memory like the memory of starvation she received a couple of days ago. Seeing her father crying like that somehow made her uncomfortable…

She felt a sharp pain in her chest. She did not want to see him cry and she did not like the expression on his face. She thought back to a memory she had received the day before. Lifting her arms, she cautiously wrapped her arms around him, like the adult in her memory had done to _comfort_ his child. However, Father showed no response. Tightening her hold she leaned her head against his shoulder and softly whispered “There, there. It will be alright. It will be alright. You will be fine.” As she continued to hug her Father, she started to cry too though she did not know why.

* * *

“I hate Jonas!” Lily shouted out as soon as The Giver walked into their dwelling. “Because of him the whole community is a mess and nothing makes sense and we keep getting all these stupid memories…” she trailed of, her eyes tearing up.

Lily had grown quite close to The Giver over the last three weeks. In addition to the regular meetings with the other Nines as well as the Tens and Elevens, Lily frequently met The Giver as he started dropping by their house for an hour or two every other day. He needed to meet with Jonas’s family unity more frequently he had said as they were acquiring memories much faster than everyone else.

Lily liked The Giver as he seemed to listen to all her ramblings attentively. Her parents had been spacing out more and more often recently leading to her often feeling like she was talking to a wall when trying to communicate with them. He also seemed to be the only one interested in talking about Jonas and Gabe. The community had stopped searching for the two a few days ago. Ever since, no one, not even Mother and Father, talked about Jonas and Gabe.

“I thought you said you liked the memories? Even after receiving the one about starving? That one, you said, was horrible, but the colours, and dancing, and dogs and rabbits and birthday presents made it ok?” The Giver asked Lily in a calm voice.

“I thought it was! But, this memory… it was so awful!” Lily cried. “What was the memory?” The Giver gently asked after a pause. “There was this elephant. Jonas was right about there once being live elephants after all! I thought he was only making fun of me! Right, so there was this elephant, and then people came and… and _killed_ it! And then the men left, and this other elephant arrived and found the first one… Oh, the roar it made! I haven’t been able to get the sound out of my head all day!”

“Grief. That is indeed a painful feeling…” The Giver said as he watched the crying girl. “I remember when Jonas got those memories.”

“And now because Jonas left everyone else has to feel this pain! Jonas is so selfish! I hate him!” Lily continued angrily as she continued sobbing. After a while, she started calming down. Tears stopped streaming down her face.

“That elephant… The one those men killed. It stopped moving completely… That was _death_ wasn’t it?” Lily asked in a small voice as she sniffled. “Yes,” The Giver answered. The Giver left Lily to ponder over this as he went to talk with her parents.

Soon it was time for The Giver to leave. Just before he left, Lily approached him quietly. “I hate Jonas. And I wish he would come back and take away all these painful memories. He could leave me some of the nice ones though. But, I hope, even if he never comes back, he is okay in Elsewhere. I hope Gabe is too. I don’t want them to _die_.” Lily spoke while looking down at her feet.

* * *

“Mother, why doesn’t it snow over here? I think it would be a lot of fun if it did. I received the memories of snow today. We could build snowmen and snow-forts and make snow-angels… I think I would like to make a snow kangaroo,” Lily asked her Mother.

Once again, her Mother was staring off into space. However, having grown used to these one-sided conversations with her parents, and some of the other adults too, she continued talking on her own. “I think I’d like to try going down a hill covered in snow on a sled as well. It looked a little bit scary, but like so much fun. There was this red sled in one of the snow memories. And when you sat in it, and slid down the slope, it went so fast! It was like I was flying. I wonder if there are snow and hills and red sleds in Elsewhere…”


End file.
